Back on the Ballot; Judiciary Rules
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By George Agathos The race for president of the Undergraduate Student Government is no longer uncontested in a dramatic reversal of the Elections Board's decision to disqualify two candidates by the USG supreme court. Previously disqualified candidate Chinelo Onochie will be put back on the ballot as a result, according to Elections Board Chair Max Sequeira. The other candidate and the incumbent president, Romual Jean-Baptiste, withdrew his candidacy prior to the board's Friday decision and will not be put back on the ballot. The court unanimously ruled in a decision released late Sunday night that the Elections Board did not have the authority to disqualify candidates and also ruled that the grounds for disqualification were not consistent with the precedent cited. The board had cited case law in making its decision, including a case regarding last year's USG elections, in which a candidate was accused of using office resources to produce campaign materials. The question that the court needed to decide was if USG is participating in a political campaign by allowing its office to be used for a political campaign. We have decided unanimously that it is. We have concluded that any elecitoneering within the walls of a USG office, whether it be the USG suite or the Senate office, is unconstitutional. We recommend that in the future, any person caught doing such should be disqualified from the election.
The board also cited the constitution. Article II, Section 2.C. of the Constitution states that, “[T]he organization [Undergraduate Student Government] shall not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distribution of statements) any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office.” By utilizing a marketing campaign for a USG-funded and sponsored event as a political platform, whether or not the candidates were aware that doing so was a violation, Onochie and Jean-Baptiste have violated one of the most important clauses in our Constitution.
In the court's ruling, however, the justices clarified their interpretation of this part of the constitution and disagreed that the Facebook event was relevant to it. We believe this means that any resources funded by USG and any USG office space cannot be utilized by candidates for the purposes of their campaigns. The Facebook page is neither USG office space nor funded by USG.
Sequeira was able to comment late Sunday on the decision. "The judiciary went against their own precedent," he said. The decision came less than a day before elections were to start at noon on Monday, March 19.
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Yes, but it makes the article I'm writing all the more fun. You want me to be happy, don't you?
Or are you just a Walsh Formerly Known As Nagler and not a Nagler Formerly Known As Walsh?
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I'm happy about this, but it
I'm happy about this, but it kind of mucks up my intention to make a lighthearted reference to a certain other election.